a blog by Jennifer Tatroe

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For at least the last decade, Novembers in my house have been crazy-time. Between NaNoWriMo, holiday prep, and running my shop, there’s no time to think, no time to clean, and, certainly, no time to cook.

Luckily, I’ve developed some coping strategies to keep the family fed, with at least a modicum of nutrition.

Cook in October. Start now. Double every meal you make this month and put half of it in the freezer. Not every recipe freezes well (potatoes are notoriously bad), but a surprising number taste even better when they’re defrosted and warmed up for a second go. I have a Pinterest board full of recipes that work, if you’re stumped for ideas. A well-stocked freezer is the number one weapon in war on cooking in November.

Supplement with ready-made sides. Prepared foods are generally full of sodium and preservatives, but if you can pull a homemade meatloaf out of the freezer, the potatoes from the refrigerated section at the grocery store should do just fine as a side dish. Deli salads are good, too, and I’m not above picking up some biscuits and corn from KFC.

Two words: rotisserie chicken. Need I say more?

Crockpot meals. Okay, so cooking in the slow cooker is still cooking, but it doesn’t feel like it. Somehow, it’s easier to throw a bunch of ingredients together in the morning than it is to face fixing a meal at six o’clock when you’ve been working all day and still have a million things left to do. Pull together a few easy crockpot recipes in October, so you’ll have them ready when you need them.

To get you started, here’s one of my favorite November recipes. Not only can it be prepared in the slow cooker, it also makes a huge amount and freezes like a dream.